Mary - Immaculate Conception - Our Lady Immaculate

The Immaculate Conception is the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain ("immacula" in Latin) of original sin. It is one of the four dogmas in our Roman Catholic Mariology. Under this aspect Mary is called the Immaculata (the Immaculate One). The dogma states that, from the first moment of her existence, Mary was preserved by God from the lack of sanctifying grace that afflicts mankind and that she was instead filled with divine grace. It is further said by Catholics that she lived a life completely free from sin. Belief in Mary's immaculate conception in the womb of her mother, through sexual intercourse, should not be confused with the doctrines of the virginal conception of her son Jesus, known as the Annunciation and the Virgin Birth. The feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated on December 8th, was established as a universal feast in 1476 by Pope Sixtus IV. The existence of the feast was a strong indication of the Church's belief in the Immaculate Conception, even before its 19th century definition as a dogma. The Immaculate Conception was solemnly defined as a dogma by Pope Pius IX in his constitution Ineffabilis Deus on December 8th, 1854.